When you combine a hot videogame like Tetris with the Connect 4 concept, you get something like Radica’s new Tetris Tower tabletop game. Basically the machine indicates which piece the player must drop into the upper slot area. When you pick up a game piece and drop it in, it slides straight down, guided by bulit-in plastic ridges. You then indicate to the system which of two competing players accomplished a line by flicking a switch on the side of the unit. Not quite as portable as the Gameboy edition, but maybe just as cool.

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When I first read MobilePC’s “Greatest Gadgets” article in the magazine’s print edition, I remember thinking to myself: “This is one of the best gear articles I have ever read. Thank God I didn’t cancel my subscription.” Two days later, I find out that anyone can find the same article for free at the magazine’s website. Highly informative, entertaining, and a must-read for anyone with even a remote interest in consumer technology. I still won’t cancel my subscription…just in case something else comes up.

Hey, if Gear Live is to be your hookup for the coolest tech out there, then we need to do it both at and away from the PC. I mean, we know a lot of you guys prefer sitting in front of your HDTV or bumping the latest tracks on your sound system instead of surfing the Internet. In the spirit of providng you with gear news in any situation, we are now giving our members free 1 year subscriptions to Sync Magazine. If you want one, simply sign up here, and indicate that you would like a free subscription. Don’t worry about your info - Gear Live does not sell it or give it away, as we hate spam as much as you do. The only people that will see it is us, and Ziff-Davis (the Sync people).

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Latest Gear Live Videos

Well, maybe it isn’t really much of a hack since all it takes is for Paris to leave her mobile device laying around. Nonetheless, this is a great find. Why? You get to see all the pictures Paris takes using her Sidekick, which includes girl-on-girl action. You get to see the kind of notes she leaves to herself, which reveals that she even had unprotected sex once (gasp!), as she needed to remind herself to get a “birth control kill pill”. Oh, and you also get a peek at her entire address/phone book - and she has quite a few you might know of. Ashlee Simpson, David Lechapelle, Ashley Olsen (where’s Mary Kate?), Christina Aguilera, Vin Diesel…or you can see the email addresses of people like Usher. I, for one, am still waiting for a call back from Lil Jon. Careful with the link, as some content may not be appropriate for minors - or for work.

The day many were waiting for has come. The Sony Ericsson S710a has been launched by Cingular. The phone was supposed to be launched in December, but after a long wait consumers can now get their hands on one of the hottest phones Sony has to offer. The S710a is a feature rich phone which includes the following:

2.3 inch 262K color TFT display

Swivel-style design

EDGE high-speed data

1.3 megapixel digital camera, 8x digital zoom

MemoryStick Duo card slot

Bluetooth

On the downside – the price is set at $449.99 with a 2-year contract, $499.99 with a 1-year contract and $549.99 without a contract. At a price higher than true smart phones, we can only ask – what were they thinking?

We all love free stuff, and hate high gasoline prices. Now thanks to Sony you can fill up for free. Before you get too excited, this offer is only for residents of Los Angeles, California. The lucky drivers will get a chance to play Sony’s latest video game for the PS2: Grand Turismo 4. The event will take place at the Mobile station on Sherman Way in Van Nuys, CA on February 22, from 7 – 9 AM – the same day the game is released. Be sure to show up early since many people are expected to attend.

The newest rumored Sony flash memory based MP3 player, the NW-E505, is looking very good. It is said to be available in blue or silver with a 512MB capacity and 3-line OLED display. The NW-E505 also includes an FM radio and built-in lithium battery that will be able to power the 37 gram MP3 player up to 50 hours. With so many features (especially the screen), Sony’s NW-E505 will without a doubt be very good competition to Apple’s iPod Shuffle. Why are people buying those again?

ThinkSecret has learned that Apple will announce an updated version of its iPod mini. The new Mini will sport a color display and boast a higher capacity hard drive. We had informed you of how the mini could possiblly hold 5 GB of data in its current state; however, the new hard drive will be a Seagate drive instead of the current Hitachi. ThinkSecret’s sources claim the capacity will be 6GB, however Seagate currently makes a 5 GB 1” drive. According to their source, the current non-photo iPods will also see an update to color screens soon. The word is that you will be able to pick one up in the next week or two with no increase in price.

A team of scientists at Pittsburgh University has used small probes attached to monkey’s brains to test a robotic arm operated by thought only. The limb has a fully mobile shoulder, arm, and gripper hand. The probes were attached to the monkey’s brain, with their natural limbs being restrained. After a while, the monkey were able to control the robotic limbs with their minds as if they were their own. The idea here is that humans with missing limbs may be able to to train their minds to use a robotic limb as if it were the original. Currently the brain probes only last about six months, as organic matter begins to grow over them at that point. The team is working on developing a better probe.

It looks like robots are getting better at replicating the human walking motion, just another one of those things we take for granted until we hurt our backs shoveling snow. Recently, three concept robots were unveiled by researchers from Cornell University, the University of Michigan and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US and Delft University in the Netherlands. While walking robots are nothing new, these are doing it with much more efficiency by utilising the natural dynamics involved. In fact they use about the same amount of energy a human being would, where Honda Motor Co.’s ASIMO, was using approximately 10 times that. I would love to see a movie of the new robots in action, as the article describes the walking as “awkward but amiable.” Very cute.